The Week in Chess

The Grand Chess Tour kicks off with the Superbet Poland Rapid & Blitz starting on Saturday at 1pm BST. Players: Praggnanandhaa, Firouzja, Aravindh, Aronian, Duda, Fedoseev, Vachier-Lagrave, Topalov, Deac, Gavrilescu.

The final weekend of the German Bundesliga takes place in Deggendorf Friday 25th to Sunday 27th April. Duesseldorfer SK take a three point lead over SC Viernheim into these final three matches. They do meet in the final round 15 of the season on Sunday but the title will likely be settled by then. The relegation battle is a good deal closer. I look for big names in the Bundesliga but don't know who will play.

Vasyl Ivanchuk has been playing nearly non-stop since February. He leads the IV Menorca Open on 5/5 after beating Nihal Sarin. The event finishes on Sunday.

Other events include the Saint Louis Spring tournaments, Finnish Championship, English Seniors, Asian Zonal in Mongolia, the Sydney Open and the finish of the Frauenbundesliga. The Chinese Team Championship and Russian Team Championships have also started although neither are as strong as they have been in the past.